A seminar to promote the high-quality development of the legal industry recently took place at the Guangzhou International Financial Center in Tianhe district, with over 40 representatives from government sectors, universities and law firms taking part.

Three major topics, namely building a legal professional community, promoting the high-quality development of the legal industry, and optimizing the business environment for the legal industry, were discussed at the seminar.

Tianhe district. [Photo/WeChat account: tianhefabu]

By cooperating with the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission, Tianhe built the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Business and Digital Economy Arbitration Center, which introduced the APEC-ODR platform. This online dispute resolution platform provides one-stop dispute resolution services for people globally.

The district will continue to provide policy support for the development of the legal industry by optimizing revenue growth incentives and talent support incentives, said an official from the Tianhe bureau of development and reform at the seminar.

The Tianhe bureau of justice will improve relevant preferential policies for the high-end service industry, and build a channel of communication between law firms, government sectors, industrial associations, and enterprises.

To date, Tianhe has 346 law firms and 12,085 lawyers, accounting for 38.4 percent and 52.3 percent of Guangzhou's total, respectively. It now has introduced 51 lawyers who have obtained the qualifications to practice law in the Greater Bay Area, making up one fourth of such lawyers in the area.

In 2022, the operating income of the 80 law firms that were included in Tianhe's statistics was nearly 6 billion yuan ($873.27 million), and 10 law firms had their operating income exceed 10 million yuan for the first time.